Throughout our careers we all may come up with great ideas, but they don’t get too far if they don’t come across to our clients.

The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas, is a great read! Written by G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa, the book offers a new approach to idea selling. The word “woo” in the book is defined as the ability to “win others over” to your ideas without coercion, using relationship-based and emotionally intelligent persuasion.

The Art of Woo has a four-step approach to their idea-selling process. 1) Persuaders need to polish their ideas for the social networks that will lead them to decision makers. 2) Confront the most common obstacles that can sink ideas before they get started. 3) Pitch your idea in a compelling way. 4) Secure both individual and organizational commitments. Throughout the book the author reference historical business cases that helps bring this approach to life.

As you can imagine, individual personality plays a key role in how you influence others. The book includes two personalized “diagnostic” tests that readers can take to discover their persuasion strengths and weaknesses (I won’t share my results!) One of the diagnostics is the “Six Channels Survey,” designed to help people learn which of the key channels of influence they feel compelled to use most often at work, and which they would prefer to use if given a choice. These channels include Authority, Rationality, Vision, Relationships, Interests, and Politics. Throughout the book you learn how to better understand these six channels.

The Persuasion Styles Assessment is in the book, and helps readers determine the degrees of assertiveness and natural social intelligence they bring to the idea-selling process.

The Art of Woo goes on to describe five distinctive styles:

The Driver—a highly assertive person who gives only limited attention to the social environment

The Commander—a grove-like person who has a quieter demeanor

The Chess Player—a quieter person who attends strategically to the social environment

The Promoter—a gregarious type who uses high levels of social intelligence

The Advocate—who strikes the balance among all the others

Definitely an entertaining read, and certainly relevant to what we all do every day.

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:Questions? Comments? You can contact the author directly at blog@ochww.com.
Please allow 24 hours for response.

In my first of a series of infographics on Digital Health, I look at smartphone use as a metric of digital acceptance and adoption among physicians. Like us, physicians are unquestionably connected through their smartphones, and are conditioned to receive digital content. The newest generation of physicians entering the field are digital natives, and do not know a world without the Internet or constant connectivity. These physicians will play a huge role in shaping the future of digital health. The key will be to understand how and when to best reach them, and those are topics we’ll cover in future posts.

Cycling down the Greenway in NYC, I became separated from my friends and lost sight of them. I stopped and called my boyfriend from my cell phone but wasn’t entirely certain he had brought his phone with him on his bike. I figured, nothing to do but keep cycling and hopefully catch up with them.

Then my chain broke. Geez! I made another call, then sat down and thought, “Now what?”

Three options came to mind: 1) Find a bicycle store and get the chain repaired; 2) Walk my bike to the Port Authority and take a train home; or 3) Stay on the Greenway and wait in the hopes that my cycling friends would come back and find me.

I dismissed Option 1 quickly: If I left the Greenway, I wouldn’t know if they came by while I was gone. I wasn’t keen on Option 3: Wait?! For how long? No guarantee they’re coming back the same way. My impulse reaction was Option 2: Take a train home and catch up with my friends later.

And I almost went with Option 2. But then I forced myself to slow down, resist a gut response for immediate action, and think it through. What if I walked all the way to the PA and found that I couldn’t take my bike on the train? Then I’d need to return to the Greenway and, well…same concerns as Option 1.

I reluctantly gave in and decided to wait. Not thirty minutes later, I saw my friends cycling toward me. My knights in shining Under Armour! They rigged my chain and got me back in the saddle in record time. And off we went. Problem solved! And all it took was the presence of mind to take a deep breath…and…wait.

On the ride back to the George Washington Bridge, I pondered how often at work we are presented with similar decision-making each and every day. We may not have all the information we need, yet we often need to “keep the job moving.”

But how often do we end up with redos? Or missing something? Or wasting precious time and resources moving something to the next step that would have been better to wait for clearer direction?

Sometimes pausing is the best action you can take.

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:Questions? Comments? You can contact the author directly at blog@ochww.com.Please allow 24 hours for response.

In a service industry, many of us live and die by the mantra, “The client’s always right.” We have long understood and served our role as agency partners and know that we need to passionately support our clients’ efforts.

But is it acceptable to challenge the clients’ wisdom and tell them from time to time that the path they want to take will not result in the best outcomes? That they should take greater risks and push themselves and their brands to greater heights? That they should not accept mediocre results when they can achieve greatness? That they should stop doing what the others are doing and break away from the pack?

Absolutely—this is our job, this is what true client partners should want and expect. We cannot simply nod our heads in approval if we truly care about our clients and the brands we support. We need to tell the truth―backed up with data, customer insights and market knowledge—and state it with conviction. When it’s out, the client will ultimately determine which direction to proceed, but they will do it knowing the potential “watch outs” or barriers to its success, and we can then work together to be armed with the ultimate plan.

It has been my experience that clients do appreciate partners who show passion, conviction and a commitment to doing what they believe is right. Most are not looking for order-takers or yes-men (and if they are, you may want to consider working with a new client).

In my office, I have a sign that says, “I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.” It’s not there to remind me that I’m always right—it’s a daily reminder to stand up for the brand and what you believe…always, even if it’s not necessarily popular. Of course, it’s critical to be able to back it up and deliver with diplomacy, grace and experience. In the end, the client drives the ultimate decision, and as their partner, we align, support them and drive to deliver the very best.

My best client relationships have been based on trust, truth and transparency, and respecting that it works both ways. There is immense power, transformative ideas and inspired problem solving that come from collective diverse thinking and challenging the status quo. Remember, in the words of David Ogilvy, “We only get a spark when the stone and flint are moving in opposite directions.”

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:Questions? Comments? You can contact the author directly at blog@ochww.com.Please allow 24 hours for response.

I find that I’m always second-guessing and triple-checking myself in most things I do because of that fear. When I do end up making a mistake, I find that I spend about 5 minutes scolding myself and wondering how it could have all been avoided. Let me just say that I find about 10 different ways to answer that question.

But isn’t making mistakes a part of life?

Yes. Everyone makes mistakes in life but it is how you bounce back from those mistakes that defines you. I recently listened to a podcast where the focus was on learning and unlearning. To “unlearn” means to let go of what you have already learned or acquired. To unlearn, you have to be open to letting go of what has been pushed on you for so long, pressing the pause button, and relearning all over again—but this time, the right way for you.

After some research, I decided that the time was right for me to start unlearning a few things—therein began my month of renewing my mind. Here is one thing I’ve “unlearned” thus far:

1. All mistakes are bad.

I recently came across an article in the Harvard Business Review about “The Wisdom of Deliberate Mistakes.” Paul J.H. Schoemaker and Robert E. Gunther, the authors of the article, state that “the resistance to making mistakes runs deep, creating traps in thinking and decision making”—a statement that I wholeheartedly agree with. I believe the No. 1 thing that gets in the way of us being our best creatively is fear. I am learning to call my mistakes “experiments.” We live in a world of trial and error, and sometimes the greatest things can come out of simple experiments. As a wise person once told me, “It’s all about where the creative work is taking you and not where you are trying to take it.”

I have come to believe that in our line of work, especially in the creative department, we shouldn’t be afraid of making mistakes. Embrace it because some of the greatest innovations have come from just the simplest mistakes. Don’t believe me? Take some time and research how one of the antibiotics widely used today—penicillin—was created.

I’m still on my journey of unlearning, and if you would like to learn a little bit more, feel free to reach out!

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:Questions? Comments? You can contact the author directly at blog@ochww.com.Please allow 24 hours for response.

Introducing a new product into the highly diluted pharmaceutical market is no easy feat. Our industry spares no time for coming up short of flawless, where the barriers to entry are a proverbial North Korea for the inexperienced and unprepared. The road to success is windy and narrow, but once achieved, the view is unmatched.

In today’s marketplace, suppliers are red-flagged for doing things the way they have in the past, and the competitive edge gained is in the ability to differentiate completely in some cases, and only partially in others.

How can we differentiate ourselves?

For a baseline, any transaction within the pharmaceutical space is a complex sale. The traditional model of selling a product, handling the logistics, and looking forward to a reorder does not cut it. As suppliers, we must adapt to the notion that we are no longer offering or launching a product, but rather have entered the era of solution-based selling. We must come to terms with the reality that being “geared” toward a client or industry is no longer acceptable, and complete customization comes at little or no extra revenue.

Make no mistake: selling a product is still physical, but an in-depth understanding of the customers’ base is now essential to the sale of a creation. The utilization of that understanding is to align our goals to match the customers’ needs. The result of a properly executed alignment is the transformation of the supplier into the partner. By outgrowing the paradigm of being the wholesaler, and embracing a newfound cooperative mantra, trust becomes the foundation of our rapport.

But trust isn’t just a way in, and a share of the market isn’t the only measure of our success. We have to continually push the limits of our capabilities to stimulate fresh ideas, and remain at the forefront of innovation to our clients. The growth driven from market advancement is what will allow us to maintain our business and simultaneously cultivate new opportunities. With trust, our new partners will expect us to act on our promises and will be more critical of our deliverables. We are no longer reacting to a signed Statement of Work (SOW) or Request for Proposal (RFP), we are building a proactive and cooperative plan of action. Suppliers cannot simply provide a product; they must also act as consultants.

The stigma of “Big Pharma” having deep pockets and quick trigger fingers is far from the truth. Pricing is critical and partners will expect us to eat a slice of the risk pie when entering into an agreement (you are a partner now, why wouldn’t you?).

We optimize the product for the consumer experience through the ability to launch a solution directed toward a specific client and their void. This style is undoubtedly the wave of the future, and the relationships formed via this approach will be more personal, more customized, and ultimately, more lucrative.

Differentiation begins with common interest, and results in great success.

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:Questions? Comments? You can contact the author directly at blog@ochww.com.Please allow 24 hours for response.

Historically, the relationship between manufacturers and payers has been transactional in nature. Payers needed to work with many manufacturers to meet financial objectives. With markets like hypertension and cholesterol at their prime and filled with branded agents, contracts benefiting both parties were the No. 1 priority. The majority of the discussions were branded, and there was a lack of trust and transparency between parties.

That was the old world, however—and this is the new world.

In today’s healthcare market, manufacturers and payers are dependent upon each other to meet their business goals. More focus has been placed on “above brand” or “pill plus” initiatives, over and above rebates for contracted products, resulting in a more collaborative environment among stakeholders. Contracts and transactions are no longer the only indicator of a positive relationship.

This shift was due in part to market trends that have required pharmaceutical manufacturers to step up their game. They needed to move beyond a transactional relationship in order to continue to provide value and differentiate themselves and their portfolios from the competition. Because there is such a huge generic market satisfying the needs of many patients with chronic illnesses, payers are relying less on their manufacturer partners to satisfy their formularies. Such market trends include:

Genericization of pharmaceutical marketplace

New branded agents with marginal improvement over existing therapies

Introduction of expensive orphan and specialty products

Access to payers and providers being minimized as stakeholders consolidate

This new environmental dynamic presents a great opportunity for our clients to take it up a notch…and where there is opportunity for our clients, there is opportunity for us. It is becoming increasingly important for us to approach tactical planning in a different way. So…what should our clients be doing to reserve a seat at the “pill plus” table?

At first I was apprehensive about working on a pitch. And by apprehensive, I mean…terrified. I heard about the sleepless nights. I heard about the weeks in overdrive. I heard about the soul-stealing, confidence-crushing monster (perhaps known by others as a time crunch). I imagined myself going into crisis mode…which isn’t pretty, let me tell you: a lot of crying and a lot of M&M binging. But I soon learned that the Kleenex and the M&Ms wouldn’t be necessary. For me, working on a new business pitch ended up being an amazing experience, and a bit like college orientation.

During my freshman year of college, I was placed in an orientation group. It was The Breakfast Club all over again: a group of people who wouldn’t ordinarily hang out are all put in a room, bring their individual personalities to the table, become friends, and develop a special bond because of their experience together. This experience was replicated at Ogilvy CommonHealth in my first new business pitch that happened just weeks after I started my role as a planner. Not only was I able to meet a lot of new, amazing people and develop relationships with them, but I was also introduced to what my life would be like as a planner. While these relationships were definitely important for the purpose of the pitch, I really loved that they significantly influenced the work I would do in the future. Plus, it made the office a friendlier place!

Now down to business. So, I mentioned my first new business pitch happened just weeks after I began my role as a planner in CommonHealth. In my 6 months as an Associate, I had some exposure to Ogilvy’s Fusion system and to market research—all very much on the surface. On this pitch, I knew I would get to go way deeper into a brand than I had gone before. This was the opportunity for me to really get my hands dirty. I couldn’t wait. I was able to be part of the planning process from start to finish for the first time. I researched market trends, I conducted target audience interviews, I drafted the Fusion Journey and Blueprint, and I even got to write the creative brief—all in just a few weeks, and of course with supervision (Thanks, Mindy!). I loved becoming the expert on the client’s business and even more so the target; I loved learning about the different experiences these people had, whether a benefit consultant giving weight-loss program anecdotes, or an HR manager sharing how she chooses health and wellness programs for her company; I got to be a part of their world for a few minutes, and I felt their excitement and pride as they told me about their roles in their companies. I loved being a part of the entire pitch process from the competitive audit down to writing my very first DO Brief. It was a three-week taste of everything I would get a chance to work on in my career as a planner. And it tasted amazing.

Goodbye soul-stealing, confidence-crushing monster (the time crunch again). Goodbye M&Ms. Actually, not goodbye M&Ms, I still quite like your chocolatey crunch—not ready to be rid of you quite yet. But seriously, working on a new business pitch has been one of the most rewarding experiences for me at Ogilvy CommonHealth, not only for the extensive planning experience that I gained in such a short time, but also for the friendships I made along the way. Thanks, team! Oh, and to make my first pitch experience even sweeter, we won the business! I continue to work on the brand and grow my planning experiences every day.

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:Questions? Comments? You can contact the author directly at blog@ochww.com.Please allow 24 hours for response.

In the age of WebMD, Everyday Health, and Facebook, consumers are more informed and involved in their health than ever before. And with social media infiltrating every aspect of their lives, they are now more vocal than ever. Patients can – and in most cases are willing to – tell you what you want to know about your brand. Just ask…and listen. So why is it that some brands fail to take full advantage of tapping into their own customers for insight, ideas, and even inspiration?

We’ve all heard the phrase “typical pharma ad” and as an industry we are guilty of producing far too much of it. Sometimes it’s driven by regulatory conservatism. Often it’s a stubborn client who is afraid to push the envelope, while at other times there just isn’t enough budget to upset the status quo. So we’re forced to pick up some stock photography, reach into our bag of preapproved claims, slap the all-important “pharma swoosh” on the piece, and call it a day.

But is the work resonating with patients? Is it even being noticed by patients? In order to make a connection with patients, the marketing needs to tap into what drives them, what worries them, and what will help them take the desired action. Put simply, they need to see themselves in the marketing.

Market research and reports can obviously give you broad-stroke generalizations about your audience. But how can you dive deeper into the psyche of your patients? There are numerous ways you can do this and they don’t require significant investments:

·Develop and leverage a standing Patient Advisory Board – Recruit patients to participate in an advisory board…and use it! This is a great channel for bouncing ideas off patients and hearing first-hand about the challenges they face with their condition every day. These boards can be conducted virtually (although at least one face-to-face meeting a year helps build camaraderie). Also, be sure to refresh the participants so that you continually get the latest perspectives.

·Seek input from stakeholders outside of the Brand Team – The Brand Team can sometimes be the furthest removed from the patient base, as they can get bogged down with sales reports and budget meetings; so try to engage those on the front line. Sales reps often can provide direct feedback from HCPs and office staff on what they see in patients. Is there an 800 number for you brand? If so, speak with the customer service reps who field those calls. What issues do they hear about most often and what questions are they asked most frequently?

·Establish a patient eCRM program – A CRM program can be simple or complex – but in order to be useful, it must be trackable. From that you can see firsthand what content is looked at most often and therefore assumed to be of most relevance. You can also conduct quick surveys or online polls to get insight about your target.

·Attend events and conferences – Again, this is another opportunity to hear from those on the front line: sales reps, patients, and HCPs. You can also see, in one fell swoop, what the competition is doing to market themselves.

Nothing I’ve suggested is earth-shattering or groundbreaking, but I do find that these often get overlooked in favor of more complicated (and costly) research. I happen to work on a well-established drug that was first-to-market in a category that is now undergoing seismic changes. We needed to defend our turf from new therapies, new dosing formulations, and new administration devices, and we needed to do it with a limited budget. “Gaining new patients was going to be increasingly difficult,” we thought, “so let’s at least be sure to hold on to the ones we have.”

So we set out last year to develop a campaign unlike anything this brand has seen in its 20+ years of existence. We needed to reinvent ourselves while remaining true to our heritage and what kept us successful all these years. We employed all of the tactics I mentioned above to help us paint a clear and vibrant picture of who our patients – our very lifeline – were. What we learned was that our old marketing reflected misconceptions about what people with this condition were “supposed” to be like. In no way did we reflect their vibrancy, defiance, and zest for living. And because of that, our patients felt like the brand was letting them down. How could we expect them to be advocates for the brand if we weren’t living up to our end of the deal?

The new campaign has just recently launched, so I can’t tell you yet how successful we’ve been at defending our turf. But what I can say is that the feedback from patients, sales reps and HCPs alike has been overwhelmingly positive. It is bold and defiant, and goes beyond the standard “talk to your doctor about…” with a rallying cry that conveys our patients’ inner strength. In other words, it is a clear reflection of them.

So if your brand feels like it’s stagnating or worse yet, losing relevance, don’t panic. Put your ear to the ground and listen for the voice of the patient – and then make sure it comes through in the work.

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:Questions? Comments? You can contact the author directly at blog@ochww.com.Please allow 24 hours for response.

One of the many benefits of having my great-grandmother well into my adulthood was the opportunity to learn many tidbits about what was important in life and how to assess and improve character. Of all the gifts she imparted, one in particular really stuck with me, and I have tried to apply her advice daily in both my professional and personal life.

Whenever hearing her great-grandchildren complain about something or someone, she’d say (as she danced at age 96 with an imaginary partner after having a brandy or two), “When you point those fingers, take a good, hard look at them. You have three fingers pointing back at you!”

I’m sure it’s a phrase that many of us have heard through the years. The lesson, of course, is to own it, whatever it may be. To grow and learn from our mistakes means investing time to look within, objectively assess situations, and determine “How did I contribute to that?” and “What can I do to make sure it does not happen again?” It’s easier said than done, of course, and it’s always easier to point a finger in another direction. Admitting to one’s mistakes takes quite a bit of courage. But while difficult, self-reflection leads to a very satisfying place, a peaceful place. It assures growth in only the best and most productive way.

So why not apply the same principle in the workplace. If our goal is to find the balance between being client-centric and company-centric, it means not only delivering quality work in a timely fashion and being efficient, but also holding our company principles to heart and ensuring our staff does not burn out in the process. To achieve this in our fast-paced agency world, self-reflection must be an ongoing and open process. It requires each of us to have the hard conversations with ourselves and our colleagues and commit to being part of the solution. It means letting our teammates know that “I know I could have done some things better and this is what I promise to do in the future to ensure success”; or “…this is what I will change in my behavior to help us get to a better place.”

Some things are in our control, others are not. But for those that are, the art of self-reflection and recommitment to change will land us in a good and positive place. If you don’t already do it, give it a try. My guess is it will be infectious and feel good, not to mention result in a truly collaborative, collective effort in the workplace.

So then, what’s your promise?

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:Questions? Comments? You can contact the author directly at blog@ochww.com.Please allow 24 hours for response.